Accommodation

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Special Deliveries

I was thrilled to have Jody stopped in yesterday afternoon for a quick visit. She brought me some of her addictive banana-chocolate chip muffins. I terribly miss raiding her kitchen for them in the late evening. 🙂 It was nice to sit and chat for a bit. I think I surprised Jody when I pulled some pop out of the fridge for her. I don’t drink the stuff, but I figured that I’d have her over at least a few times during the winter, so I bought a case of a type I see her drink often.

This morning, I was sitting here working on some stuff and trying to ignore the sound of the contractors going about their business a few doors down until it was closer to my starting time of 10. I’m working really hard at drawing that line between work and home right from the start. But the inevitable knock on the door came… I was still in my pjs, so I quickly threw on a long skirt, a sweater, and a kerchief. I checked the peephole and it was one of my minor maintenance guys. Oy, I hate starting my day like this… I opened up and he handed me a Tim Hortons cup! That was all, he was delivering the Friday treat from our boss and figured there was no reason to wait another half hour.

Between muffins for breakfast and overly sweet (but yummy!) ‘French vanilla cappucino’, I have come to realise that, hey, it’s Friday! I’ve just about survived my second week in The Apartment.

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One Down, Twenty-Five To Go

I have been living in The Apartment for a full week now and definitely back to as normal a routine as exists for me.  While I am pretty much settled in, I still need to get my really cold weather gear out of Miranda’s basement and figure out how to plug in the rig. The Apartment is surprisingly cozy and looks much better than I would have expected. It’s amazing how I was able to get everything to reasonably coordinate! My colourful bedspread is definitely making a huge difference:

The biggest advantage to living here is that I have so much more time now. Yes, I did stop delivering the fliers, but I’ve also gained the hour I spent commuting every day. The best part of living here is being able to walk to the services, especially the grocery store. I needed English muffins and fresh fruit for the week, so I just ambled on over the Safeway and took in a lovely crisp October afternoon. Coming home, one of my tenants/friends was on her deck, so I stopped for a chat, the first chance we’ve had to talk where I was really off the clock.

Yesterday afternoon, a tenant saw me come out of Miranda as he went to throw garbage in the dumpster and he came to ask me about a non-urgent maintenance matter. I firmly told him that I will see him on Tuesday morning, refusing to even go into the office and write down his query. I have to draw that line right now because word will get out very quickly that, hey, the manager’s living on site and available for the asking! Nope!

 


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Winterizing My RV Water System

Today’s goal was to winterize my RV water system. I decided to walk over to Safeway for a few things, then come back to get the car so I could drive across town to Canadian Tire to get RV plumbing antifreeze.

On the way to Safeway, while standing at the light to cross Scenic Drive, I happened to glance south and jumped back in shock. Look at what I could see:

Surely that Canadian Tire is a mirage…

WHAT?! There’s a Canadian Tire directly across the road from my apartment complex?! Getting there is a bit roundabout, but it still only took about 10 minutes. What a find!

Anyway, I decided to forgo the groceries and get straight to winterizing. I had an absolutely painless shopping trip (!!! for CDN Tire!) and picked up:

-3 gallons of RV antifreeze (the instructions said I needed to pour 2 into the fresh water tank, so I figured I’d need extra for the P-traps)

-a funnel that I was thrilled to discover exists:

funnel with flexible spout

and a few other sundries not related to this post.

I got back to the rig and reread the instructions:

part of the winterizing instructions

The following winterizing instructions are taken from my 1997 Glendale Royal Classic owner’s manual and may not apply to your RV. Always check your own manual. RV tech Les Doll has a good RV winterization manual.

1) Drain your fresh water system

Done.

2) Clean out your holding tanks

Done. Not as well as I would have liked, especially for the black tank, but I would have needed to go to a FHU RV park to do the job properly.

3) Drain the water lines by opening the lowest outlet in the system (in my case, that’s the outdoor shower). Drain the water heater by opening water heater drain cock and pressure relief valve.

Done. And this is why you should occasionally flush your water heater with vinegar (something I did last spring in Blaine):

calcification on water heater drain cock

4) Remove the output line at the water pump…

I omitted this step because I couldn’t figure out why to do it. The RV has been winterized a few times before me and I could tell this step was never done.

It’s in this step that they mention water heater bypass kits. If your RV does not have one, you will have to completely fill the water heater with antifreeze. I have what is apparently an unusually large water heater, 10 gallons, so that’s a lot of antifreeze!

Thankfully, I also have a higher end rig:

water heater bypass diagram

water heater bypass valves

So before the next step, I made sure to turn the valves as directed to bypass the water heater.

6) Pour 2 gallons of antifreeze into the fresh water tank.

Done.

note to self, that’s what two gallons of liquid in the fresh water tank looks like

7) Turn on water pump.

Done.

8 ) Open each faucet until a change of water colour is noted.

Done. And I knew I had all the water out of the lines because I got bright pink immediately at all faucets:

-Dressing room sink hot and cold
-Indoor shower hot and cold
-Outdoor shower hot and cold
-Kitchen sink hot and cold
-Toilet

antifreeze in the dressing room sink

9) Run the toilet…

Done.

10) While water system is pressurized, depress the city pressure inlet one way valve so that antifreeze flows outside the unit.

Done.

11) Get a little antifreeze into the water heater and through water heater drain cock.

Done (thank you flexible spout funnel).

12) Finally, be sure that antifreeze has circulated through the entire water system and that antifreeze is in all P-traps.

Done. I poured the last gallon of antifreeze down all the drains:

-kitchen sink x 2
-dressing room sink
-shower
-toilet

Not counting draining the rig (most done at Jody and Gary’s), this was a very, very quick and easy process.

I ended up not blowing the water lines due to the lack of power outlet for running the compressor. The instructions really make this step out to be optional, so I feel okay with having skipped it. We shall see how the rig fares in the spring… Les feels that blowing out the lines isn’t a good idea.

Next project, figure out how to hook myself up to a power outlet 150′ away…

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Trolling the Classifieds Pays Off!

The flooring issue in the apartment has been vexing. Even if the carpet wasn’t completely gross, I wouldn’t want to leave it exposed because of the cats. All it would take would be one accident and I’d have to pay for new carpeting! So, I bought a plastic drop cloth and laid it over the floor. Worked, but I couldn’t imagine walking on a drop cloth all winter and my idea of laying down runners to make paths sounded positively dismal.

I decided that I had to bite the bullet and buy some proper flooring to put over the drop cloth in the main part of the room and that it would probably be a carpet. I needed something about 8’x10′, which doesn’t come cheap! There was no way I was going to invest in this place, so today I decided to check the classifieds. I scored, big time:

This hideous monstrosity (I’m not a fan of Aztec patterns!) couldn’t have been better coloured for this place. The burgundy, beige, and dark green can be found in my comforter and the pale teal matches the tiling in the kitchen and bathroom! It’s ugly, but it fits right in and in doing so is almost attractive! The guy was asking for $35 but I offered $20. He replied “If you can be here tonight, you can have it.” I got in the car immediately and drove clear across town, making it there just as darkness fell. For $20, whatever happens this winter happens. Tabitha can claw it to bits and Neelix can puke on it all he wants (readers go “EW!!!”) and it will have been worth my twenty bucks!

The carpet felt pretty clean (and smelled great, surprisingly enough), but I still had some cleaning solution in the carpet cleaner, so I gave it a spritz.

Here’s my living room area looking towards the bed, with the lovely chair and ottoman Gary pulled out of storage for me:

And here’s the room looking towards the desk:

I put the carpet flush against the bed so that I could fit a plastic runner around the desk since it will be a high chair traffic area. I consider the apartment setup to be DONE. Now, I just need to figure out what else needs to be brought in based on the potential of damage due to low temperatures.

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Settling Into My Temporary Abode

This has been my second full day in the apartment and I am slowly falling back into my normal routine. I made my first home cooked meal this evening, which meant scurrying down to the rig for onions, a sharp knife, a cheese grater, and a colander. 🙂

Here are some bits of the apartment so far.

First, the bedroom area with the absolutely awesome headboard/bookcase Jody had in storage. Also make note of the little side table next to the bed on which the lamp is resting. It’s the perfect height!

bedroom area (my pretty comforter is in the wash pile!)

Next is the office area. Telus was supposed to send a tech between noon and two to figure out why my hardwired connection wasn’t working. The tech showed up at 11!!! It was a simple fix and now I have 500GB of bandwidth a month! The speeds aren’t actually any better than the cellular connection however. That says a lot about cellular speeds in southern Canada!

office area

The dining area reminds me of a school cafeteria (the floor tiles don’t help!), but the chair is super comfy!

dining area

I like that I have the storage room for the cats. Litter doesn’t get tracked everywhere and the food dishes are out of traffic areas. Neelix was okay with me stepping over him in the dressing room, but Tabitha would bolt if I tried to do that, interrupting her meal.

the cat condo

Here’s Tabitha’s nest under the sink. She’s been going in and out of there since she discovered the spot. I think she appreciates the blanket since she’s moved it around a bit to make more of a nest.

Ms. Bitha’s nest

Finally, I have to say I LOVE having a one-piece pantry. That’s one thing I found hard in Miranda, trying to remember what I had in the various cabinets.

pantry

The pantry is pretty full tonight since today is 15% off day at the Lethbridge grocery stores. I got some awesome deals including two boxes of falafel mix!